Hokej!

 The title of this post is a Slovak word--the "j" sounds like a "y"--and we bet you'll be able to pronounce it, and even know what it means!


Yes, we went to a hockey match.  Hockey is Slovakia's national sport, like football or baseball to the United States.  We went on the tram, a group of us from the International Church and the school--which is ninety percent the same crowd.  That shouldn't surprise anyone, since the intern pastor and her intended organized the trek, and he played for the U  of North Dakota team (he's at Luther Seminary now, studying from the seminary here).  Slovakia sends a number of players to the National Hockey League; in fact, has quite a few in the league now.  Several players in the Slovak League have NHL ice time.  Bratislavans like skating so much that the Main Square has been turned into an ice skating rink.


European hockey is fast and clean; not a lot of fighting, since fights result in an automatic major (5 minute) penalty.  This night, the Bratislava team (Slovan)  hosted Zilina.  In the eleven-team Slovak league, Slovan is fourth and Zilina tenth.  Alas, Slovan played down to Zilina's level, but managed to win, 2-0.

Yes, there is a Zamboni, although the driver looked nothing like Snoopy.  The match took place in the old Samsung stadium, which will go the way of all old stadia soon.  Slovakia will host the World Championships in April and early May, and Bratislava is building a brand-new stadium.  They appear to have a long way to go before it is done.  Slovan hopes to make the Slovak League playoffs, and hopes to use the new stadium.  The fans probably hope so, too.

After the match, the teams shake hands and Slovan lines up, kneels, and (we think) pays its respects to the fans.  This is as it should be, since the fans pay the bills.  After the match, we went out to catch the tram, and it was, appropriately enough, snowing.

No, we don't have tickets to any of the World Championship games.  The US team starts out the tournament in Kosice, which is in Eastern Slovakia, and only comes to Bratislava if it makes it to the quarterfinals.  We're not rich enough, or big enough hockey fans, to pay 70+ euros a ticket, and we're probably not big enough fans to go to a match between, say, Slovenia and Russia.  We were glad, however, to pay 1/35th of that price for tickets to see Slovan play!